Weekly Update: July 9

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Riding a five-game undefeated streak, the New England Revolution (6-7-4, 22 pts.) closes its three-game home stand on Saturday, July 14, when the team hosts Toronto FC (2-11-4, 10 pts.) at Gillette Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

Comcast SportsNet will televise the game regionally while 98.5 The Sports Hub will carry the game on the radio.

Saturday’s match is the second and final regular-season games between the two teams this season. Chris Tierney scored a 94th-minute equalizer in the first meeting of the season as the teams played to a 2-2 draw on June 23, at BMO Field.

SERIES INFORMATION VS TORONTO FC

Team Notes vs. Toronto FC

New England leads the all-time, regular-season series between the two clubs, 4-2-6 ... the Revs are undefeated (4-0-2) against Toronto at Gillette Stadium but have never beaten Toronto FC on the road, going 0-2-4 at BMO Field

Saturday match will be the second and final meeting in 2012 as the two teams played to a 2-2 draw in Toronto on June 23

Last season, the teams split the regular-season series with a pair of draws: a scoreless finish on June 15 and a 2-2 result in the season finale on Oct. 22, at BMO Field

Six out of the 12 matches between the two teams have ended in a draw, including each of the last three matches

The Revs have out-scored TFC, 22-14, in their 12 previous meetings ... the Revs have shut out Toronto three times, while TFC has held New England scoreless twice

In home games against Toronto, the Revs have averaged 2.33 goals per game while Toronto has averaged 0.50 goals per game at Gillette Stadium

The Revolution and TFC have never met outside the MLS regular season

Player Notes vs. Toronto FC

Shalrie Joseph is the Revolution’s current leading scorer against Toronto with two goals and two assists in 11 appearances

Chris Tierney has one goal and two assists in seven career appearances against Toronto after adding a 94th-minute equalizer in the teams’ earlier meeting on June 23… Tierney’s first two career assists were recorded at BMO Field against Toronto FC, on Aug. 23, 2008 and May 23, 2009

Sainey Nyassi has also scored one goal and added one assist in six appearances against the Reds

Blake Brettschneider scored a goal against TFC last month in the team’s 2-2 draw on June 23

Flo Lechner and Fernando Cardenas each have one assist in one appearance against the Reds … both players were credited with the assist on Chris Tierney’s goal on June 23

Matt Reis is 3-1-4 with 1.13 goals against average and three shutouts in eight career appearances against Toronto FC

Bobby Shuttleworth made the start in last year’s season-finale on Oct. 22, making three saves in the 2-2 draw

TEAM NOTES

Lee Nguyen Up For MLS Goal of the Week Honors

Lee Nguyen’s 24th-minute goal on Sunday is one of five goals nominated for MLS Goal of the Week honors … fans have until midnight on Thursday, July 12, to vote online or text their votes … this is the second time Nguyen has been nominated for the award as he was previously a finalist for one of his goals against Vancouver on May 12 … voting information can be found HERE.

Gillette Stadium Doubleheader Announced

Italian giant AC Milan will meet Honduran power Olimpia at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, August 4 ... Olimpia replaced Brazil’s Cruzeiro, who was earlier scheduled to face AC Milan in that match ... AC Milan and Olimpia will meet in the first game of a special doubleheader that will see the previously-scheduled match between the host New England Revolution and Sporting Kansas City in the second game ... tickets for the special doubleheader start at $35 ($30 for group tickets) and will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 11 ... for more information, click HERE.

Shalrie Joseph Bobblehead Night Saturday

Revolution captain Shalrie Joseph has been a household name in New England since 2003 and on Saturday, fans can take home a small version of Joseph at the New England-Toronto match … fans can pick up their commemorative Joseph bobblehead, while supplies last, when the gates open at 6:30 p.m. ... for more info, click HERE.

Gillette Stadium Goes Smoke Free

Gillette Stadium announced Monday that beginning with Saturday's Revolution match against Toronto FC, the venue will become a fully smoke-free facility ... all areas inside the stadium gates will be designated as non-smoking, a policy that will remain in place for all ticketed events moving forward, including MLS and international soccer matches ... Gillette Stadium will join the majority of NFL venues and many MLS venues by going completely smoke-free.

Revs League’s Longest Unbeaten at Five

The Revs enter Saturday’s game riding a five-game undefeated streak (2-0-3), dating back to June 2’s 2-0 win against Chicago … the Revs’ five-game streak is MLS’ longest current undefeated streak … the current streak is the team’s first five-game unbeaten streak since 2008 … that year, the Revs had seven-game winning streak (5-0-2, May 11 to June 18) … so far this season, three teams (D.C., Kansas City, San Jose) have posted seven-game undefeated streaks and two teams (New York, Seattle) have posted six-game unbeaten runs.

Tough Home Twosome Wraps Up Saturday

Saturday’s match against Toronto completes a stretch of two home games in seven days … the Revs blanked New York, 2-0, on Sunday night and have five days to prepare for Saturday’s tilt against TFC … Saturday’s match is the team’s final home match in July, and their last until August 4 when the team hosts Kansas City … the Revs will wrap July on the road with three matches: at Montreal on July 18, at Kansas City on July 21 and at Philadelphia on July 29.

Reds Are Welcomed Guests at Home

While the team is winless on the road against Toronto (0-4-2) – New England needed a 94th-minute equalizer to secure a draw on June 23 – the Revs are undefeated in six matches against the Reds at Gillette Stadium, going 4-0-2 … in those six home games, the Revs have outscored Toronto, 14-3, and have recorded three shutouts … New England averages 2.33 goals per game against Toronto at home, while the Reds have averaged just 0.50 goals per game in those matches.

Tops in Multiple-Goal Games of Late

With two goals on Sunday, the Revolution recorded its ninth multiple-goal game this season … after recording just two multiple-goal games in their first nine matches, the Revs have exploded with seven multiple-goal games in their last eight … no other team in MLS has more than six multiple-goal games in their last eight matches … the Revs’ nine multiple-goal games this season ranks fourth in MLS behind league-leader D.C. United (11).

Summer Scoring Surging

As the temperatures in the Northeast have surged this summer, so has the Revolution’s scoring … when averaging all 19 teams scoring in all of their games since the start of May, the Revolution have MLS’ third-leading attack with a 1.90 goals per game average in 10 games since May 1 … D.C. United leads with a 2.11 goals per game mark (in nine games) in that time, while the San Jose Earthquakes are second with a 1.91 goals per game mark (in 11 games) … the league’s top summer-scoring trio has far out-paced the rest of the league, too, as fourth place Montreal has averaged 1.55 goals per game (in 11 games) since May 1.

Only Place to Go is Up

With two goals on Sunday, the Revs have now scored 24 goals in 17 games, pushing the team’s goals per game average to a season-high 1.47 … the Revs have scored 19 goals in their last 10 games – including eight multiple-goal games – and have been shut out just once in that span … the team’s goals per game average has remained higher than 1.00 since May 12, following the four-goal performance against Vancouver … the Revs were shut out four times in their first seven games, but have been blanked just once since then while scoring eight multiple-goal games in the team’s last 10 games.

The Revs enter this week with a chance to do something the team hasn’t done since March 31: win and return to a .500 winning percentage … with points in eight of their last 10 matches dating back to May 2, the Revs have improved to 6-7-4 overall, with a .471 winning percentage … after losing their first two matches of the season, the Revs improved to 2-2-0 with a win at LA to close out March … a three-game losing streak followed in the month of April and the Revs’ winning percentage dropped to a season-low .290 before climbing steadily since.

Subs Making a Difference

The Revs have seen a player come off the bench to score a goal in four of their last five games dating back to June 2 against Chicago ... in those four games, the Revs' subs have racked up a total of four goals and four assists ... in the last five games, Kelyn Rowe (June 2 against Chicago), Blake Brettschneider (June 23 at Toronto), Diego Fagundez (June 30 against Seattle) and Jerry Bengtson (July 8 against New York) have come off the bench to score for the Revs.

Midseason Improvement

Through 17 games, the Revs (6-7-4, 22 pts.), have improved upon multiple win totals from the 2011 season … at the halfway point one season ago, the Revs were 3-8-6 (15 pts.) … Sunday night’s win was the Revs’ sixth victory of the season, surpassing the team’s five-win total during the entire 34-game season in 2011 … Sunday’s win was also the Revs’ fifth win at home this year after winning just four games (4-7-6) at Gillette Stadium all of last year.

Tough To Beat at Home

Saturday’s match will test the Revs’ six-game, home unbeaten streak (3-0-3) which dates back to May 2 against Colorado … the Revs’ six-game home unbeaten streak is the club’s longest of the season and is the first six-game home unbeaten streak since 2008 … that season, the team recorded a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) from May 11 to June 18 … the team’s longest unbeaten streak at home is 11 games as the Revs went 7-0-4 at Gillette Stadium from April 2 to June 11, 2005.

Taking Pride in The Return of Fortress Foxborough

The Revs are 5-1-3 at home this season and the team’s .720 home winning percentage is tied with Kansas City and Vancouver for fifth in MLS among the 19 teams … following Sunday’s match, head coach Jay Heaps commented on the team’s home success and said, “I love that our team works hard at home, plays well at home and makes it hard for teams to play against us here” … continued Heaps, “But in the end, we still have room for improvement …”

Hello, Jerry

Newly-signed Honduras international Jerry Bengtson scored a goal in his first-ever MLS (and Revolution) match on Sunday night … he entered the match in the 60th minute and scored his first MLS goal in the 84th minute … Bengtson was signed on Thursday, July 5, and was officially added to the team’s roster last Friday after receiving his International Transfer Certificate and U.S. P-1 Visa … with his goal, Bengtson became the team’s 12th different goal scorer this season.

Jerry’s “Welcome to MLS” Moment

Jerry Bengtson scored a goal in his MLS debut on Sunday, but the occurrence wasn’t too uncommon, as he became the fifth Revolution player – and third player in a one-year span – to score a goal in his MLS debut … in their respective debuts last season, Diego Fagundez scored against Chivas USA (Aug. 6) while Monsef Zerka scored at Philadelphia (Sept. 7) … previously, Robert Ukrop recorded a brace in his MLS debut with the Revs in 1996, before Jose Manuel Abundis scored in his first appearance on Sept. 30, 2006.

Tierney Takes Team Lead for Assists

Chris Tierney recorded his team-leading fourth assist of the season on Lee Nguyen’s goal on Sunday … the assist was his 15th career assist since joining the club in 2008 … Tierney’s four assists in 16 games this season match his best season high, which he set in 2010 (27 games) and 2011 (27 games).

Game-Winning Assists Common for Chris

Chris Tierney recorded his seventh career game-winning assist on Sunday night against New York … with his assist on Lee Nguyen’s game-winning goal, Tierney moved into a tie with Mike Burns for fourth all-time on the club list for game-winning assists and is one shy of third place behind Jose Cancela (8) … with seven career game-winning assists, now almost half of Tierney’s 15 total assists (47 percent) have been of the game-winning variety.

Lee with Goal Number Three

Lee Nguyen scored his third goal of the year on Sunday off a square pass from Chris Tierney … the goal was Nguyen’s first since his two-goal effort on May 12 against Vancouver … Nguyen ranks second on the team with three goals, behind Saer Sene (8 goals).

Shuttleworth Steps in For Shutout

On Sunday, Bobby Shuttleworth earned his first appearance of the season and first since the season-finale at Toronto on October 22, 2011 … Shuttleworth went on to make three saves to earn the shutout in the victory … Sunday night’s performance was Shuttleworth’s third career victory, and his second career shutout … it was his first win since October 16, 2010, a 1-0 victory against Kansas City – also a shutout.